Clearly visible from 70 miles away, the smoke and heat from the wildfires north of the resort town of McCall, Idaho, raise a 40-mile string of cumulus clouds to 35,000 feet, a scene repeated at the sites of a hundred major wildfires in the western half of the nation last August. Some 300 helicopters operated by private contractors and the Army are making water and retardant drops, shuttling firefighters, hauling cargo, and performing medevacs and reconnaissance.
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